Kyle Larson 2016 Review
By Richard Tix
Season Grade: B+
Season Preview: "Last year I went with multiple wins which was bold considering how bad it crashed an burned. This year I am going with Larson once again going win-less. Many are picking him to bounce back and finally get a win in 2016. While I do think he will bounce back, I also think he has a real shot at once again coming up short in the W column. I do think he will creep back into the Chase picture with solid outings even despite a win. 7-9 top 5's and 16-18 top 10's are realistically where I see him ending back up (something close to his rookie season)."
Season Review: Well, I can't say I was right on almost anything above from my season preview article on Kyle Larson, you can't win'em all folks. In 2016 he finally notched his first NASCAR Cup Series win (which I prediced would come true each of his first two years and I was wrong so of course I would be wrong when I predicted he wouldn't win this year..). The win came at Michigan in the Pure Michigan 400, which was extra sweet for me because I was there live in person.
The win put him in the 2016 Chase where he faltered a bunch early (three of his first five races were 18th or worse). He finished the season strong with finishes of third at Phoenix and second at Homestead which is something we have seen before from Kyle before (see rookie season).
The season ended with Larson notching his best win total (one), best top 5 total (10), and second best top 10 total (15) while finishing a career best 9th in points. All those numbers are one's in which most fans expect him to surpass eventually but it was a nice stepping stone season for one of NASCAR's rising stars.
Lovely post.
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